Newsletter: Month 9

JB,



Today you turned 9 months old.



We have had quite a month.



We spent time in ohio.







You grew some teeth.



And you started creeping and pulling yourself to a standing position.









We have taken (literally) hundreds of photographs this month.



I have to go back and check, but I think this is the first month without an ear infection since day care started.



You are a well-traveled, healthy, happy, mobile boy!





Today, you went swimming for the first time...



As I expected you did awesome.



Hesitant at first, mostly related to water temperature.





By the end, you were kicking and reaching and riding in inner tubes.



You were smiling and laughing and wanting everyone to watch you.



At the end of our adventure, I decided I wanted you to go under the water. I dipped you and you didn't even cry... Just gave me a dirty look that was like, "What the charred-duck was that for?!?"



There's more to say, but a few more pictures are better than more words...











We love you,





Your mommies!

Freaks on display

I don't usually pretend that what i like to read is what any or all of you will appreciate, but this but this guy joe has something here I wish to classify as a "must read".

Happy Pride 2008!

at the conference

Posting from the conference attendee lounge at the NP conference...

having a great time, mostly because of the friends that are here. the classes have been so-so so far but the pool and gym have been great!

I miss the boy a TON. I miss Tracy too but I've been apart from her for 5 days in a row before. Him, not so much. Tracy was kind enough to send video and pics by phone this morning which of course made me nearly cry until I shook my head and returned to thinking about the renin-angiotensin system in hypertension.

sigh.

i have an amazing life.

now on to re-learning ECG interpretation.

Winning stragegy

By the way, a few helpings of prunes ended the over-emphasized constipation days ago.

Tonight at softball, we lost. But it felt like we won.

It was one of those hot, humid, wish-it-would-storm-so-that-it-will-cool-off kind of nights... It was pretty sweaty. I played outfield twice this week and I'm having a good time with it; though never really having played it before, i have some trouble judging the balls. Yesterday, JB was with us at the field, tonight Katy took him home to spend some time together.

Katy has been catching this year during the games- she started doing this last year, but now it has become her position. I'm kind of proud at how her game has improved. She is athletic and all that but never really played softball. So there I am on a softball team with my wife and my sister- both of whom are kind of interested in exhibiting perfection at all times, but neither of whom have ever played ball before. It's a little nerve-racking because I want them to do well, and I want to help, but I don't want to get involved in "advising" too much... and also, I am now not only worried about my own safety, but that one of these two might get injured.

I think I mentioned, I got my sister to join the team this year because, we are trying to look for ways to spend time together that don't involve eating (cooler caddy discounted) and also, as I know I have mentioned, my team is dripping with multi-generational awesomeness. Though I live 1/2 hour away from the fields, my sister lives in the same town and it felt like time to bring her into the fold.

I love my teammates for the way they give everyone a chance and the way they open up the welcome wagon of inclusiveness and societal responsibilities. When you are on this team, you bring cooler caddy at least once a season and that includes non-alcoholic libations and some type of snickitty snacks. No one barks or murmurs whether you bring a bag of chips or smoked tuna-steak finger sandwiches. There's no hierarchy, competition or score keeping when it comes to what you share or are able to provide. Any and all snarkiness is above-board and direct, and meant in good fun. If you want to be on the team, you are invited to the parties and to the frequent volunteer opportunities, and to the wakes/funerals/sick beds of loved ones. There is an extensive network of skills and services available via 'mates and spouses. Here's where we got our mortgage refinanced, found life insurance, found bands to sing with and hire, learned to play golf. There's someone connected to furniture, carpentry, motorcycles, lots of teachers, paving, court and field painting, trash collection, real estate, hardware, politics, it goes on and on. Here I've taught teenagers how to drive stick shift and stuck a few in coolers and trash cans when they were misbehaving (all without getting in trouble with my friends- because the governing rule over kids at games seems to be- "on this team you will find your surrogate parents, aunts, and cousins... open up a can of worms with someone and you'll have to work it out with that person... don't expect me to come fix it...")

In the many years I've been on the team, there have been about 1/2 dozen new teammates that didn't make it and that was only because they were unfriendly, overly-competitive, poor sports, (or in that one case) truly creepy:
"I guess you and I will have to sleep together in the single bed..."
umm... no. no we won't...

I digress.

Tonight, my sister played 2nd base. She's a "rules" person. As in, tell me the rules of how to do well, and I'll follow them to the tee... and then I'll do well. She has trouble doing things that don't have rules (like taking an unplanned out walk through an amusement park or big city, for example.) She also does well when there are layered, simultaneous goals: "Get the ball and play your position,:" for example, right alongside "get on base", and "win the game". During softball (I think this was her fourth game ever) she screams a lot more than I am used to. I mean, most SB players don't scream, and frankly, my sister doesn't scream much either... but in 2 or 3 plays tonight, she actually yelped out little screams. Like when a woman sees a spider on TV... The ball was heading to her glove: "ahhhhhhhhhea!" Huh? what was that?

But she got on base 3 times (3 times more than me) and I stopped counting after her 2nd put out of the game. Pretty fan-#$cing-tastic. Highlight quote of the game:

web: "Come on, ladies, we have 1 MF out."

Oh yeah, she's intense... the thing is, when you're surrounded by these people, laughing and sucking wind while running around in the outfield, it's hard to care or pay any mind to the score.

Because i'm trying to be a good employee...

The blog suffers...

But I think we can all agree that having to see that last post hanging up there is a little more than pathetic. Poor JB and his constipation what kind of f'ed up mother am I???

We are doing well. Work is mind numbing and boring and still overwhelming. But spending the mornings and evenings with our kid is awesome. There is so much to do and pay attention to (in terms of making sure he has what he needs for the day, and keeping him fed and watered.) Katy and I are still having the issue of not communicating clearly about division of labor where our son is concerned. That results in both of us "planning" on doing everything. I'm running around trying to get his bottles together and Kt has already done it... I've packed his bibs for day care and Kt is trying to figure out where all the clean bibs went. It is a harder lesson than it should be to have a chat and "make a plan" instead of each of us making a "mental plan" that we don't share with the other.

I'm on point though, b/c the little woman is going south for a conference and JB and I are on our own for about 5 days... it should be interesting.

My aching back

I turned 35 this weekend.

Katy planned a small-ish party on saturday. We were excited to cook and create some yummies, but when I woke up that morning, I was in a bad way.

Somehow, I pulled a muscle deep inside my glut, very near my coccyx.

Yes, I had a severe pain in the lower back okay... ass.

Severe as in- where did we put that left over percocet from the c-section?

Apparently, softball on thursday and a leisurely round of golf on Friday was enough to cripple me for 2 days. Try that on when you are floating thru a birthday!

It's been an amazing year (all said and done). I had our baby 9 months before before the official onset of "advanced maternal age" and really (two days of limping and whimpering aside) I feel as young as ever.

Happy birthday to me.

milestones on vacation

While we were in Ohio...

JB really started rolling and standing up.
Got a little better at stepping/walking

Eating firsts: peas, mangos, greek yogurt, frozen banna, watermelon,

Is pulling himself up.

He seems to have grown.

He is napping longer, and less frequently.

Constipated

JB has been constipated.

Because (apparently) he takes after me, "constipated" translates to "only going 1 tiny marble-turd every day or so." Unfortunately for him, he can't drink coffee or enjoy a meal of take out Chinese before "perusing" a book-store.

Today at various times, he pushed and pushed to the point of watering, red eyes, and turning purple-ish in the face. It is very cute but a little sad to hear him grunting, and then that one time- a brief onset of tears. I read this on dooce about men in their public domain, and now I giggle every time he makes too much noise. On the one hand, it's not fair: the rest of us get a private space to do our business and not with a team of guardians and grandparents watching, giggling, and clapping in the living room. On the other hand, I'm in the opposite situation of the gent that guest-posted for dooce: when my kid is just behaving (apparently) like the rest of his gender I'm going to be all like, "uuuuuggghhhhha, you are being disgusting, please keep it down..."

Poor little dude. I hope he feels a little better soon.

As California, so goes the country...

So, today marriage equality is introduced to a nation.

Last night, in a special ceremony Del Martin (87) and Phylis Lyon (84) were legally wed after over 50 years together. My favorite part of the new coverage has been the protesters- one of their signs was quoted as saying, "Homo sex is sin." Ironic to picket a wedding ceremony of ancient lesbians with that one... it just sort of reinforces that this isn't really about sex as much as love, commitment, and equal rights.

California isn't the first state to allow 'the gays' to marry, but unlike our beloved MA, Cali doesn't have an antiquated, racist law on the books that is used to enforce a residency requirement. Nation-state, California has sent an engraved invitation to boys and girls in love: come here and get hitched.

It may not be legal in the home state of those destined to wed on the west coast, and the federal government will not recognize the marriages any more than they recognize our civil union, but this is huge. It is a big deal because how are you going to say to someone who has a valid marriage certificate that they are not married. I don't mean in a legal battle or court system. I mean in school system when someone is saying you are not a parent-figure, or at the gym when someone says you can't get a "family membership" or in an airport or hotel or rent-a-car dealer when someone says that you are not related... or in a hospital waiting room when someone says you are not next of kin. Every day citizens are going to have a problem with that, because everyday citizens recognize when something is unfair, and generally people are uncomfortable with something that is unfair. For some people that is about ethics, but for others it is more about:

"If they can do that to you, then they can do that to me... and I don't think that's right."

This is real and it's bigger than MA b/c even if is not "legal," it is more than people have ever had. Even in conservative states and towns, newly married couples will go to CA and bring their marriage certificates back to and in even greater numbers, they will come out of the closet and demand their fair share.

And on a much larger scale, just as has happened in MA, people will realize that nothing falls apart when two ladies or two gents get married. It is just doesn't change anything at all, except for the families that get some legal backup for their relationships.

Favorite bumper sticker:
Gays and lesbians are getting married, recognize it.

Sweet peas

[Photos to follow]


Peas have been JB's fav food since the beginning. When he was still not sure how to control his jaw and eschewing fruit, he'd go all open-mouth-baby-bird-in-the-nest for the peas.

Katy and I briefly considered making his food... but fresh peas are especially hard to come by. We decided that in this day and age, homemade baby food is overrated. I mean yeah, once you are tempted to offer those "meat-smash" stage 3 dinner "combos," DO SOMETHING. Do something, quickly: Blend up table food, call a grandma, just try for god's sake to offer something tastier and more aesthetically pleasing!

But considering that most stage 1 and 2 baby food in a jar:
1) Has no sugar added
2) Is preservative free, and
3) Can be found in an organic variety,

It just seems silly to go the extra mile.

But here at Granny and Granna's house, they have fresh peas growing in the back yard. They are the kind we used to shuck at my gram's house. The kind that you can eat without shucking because the pod is just as tasty as the inner pea. The kind that you can just imagine a carnivorous, cave-person noticing on a vine; bursting in ripe green, too luscious to ignore. And then when his/her "hunting buddies" weren't looking, pop one in his mouth, just to see what it would taste like...

So, yesterday, I picked some mint out of the garden with about 100 pea pods. I shucked them, washed them, and boiled them up. I blended them in the food processor shredding the mint leaves right in as well, and strained the mixture by hand.

Time it takes to procure and prepare a serving of store-bought, organic strained peas:
20 minutes.
4 minutes, if the jar is already in your cabinet...

Time it takes to procure and prepare a serving of home-grown, organic strained peas:
Several hours a day for several months.
60 minutes, if the peas have already been grown for you...

The experience of feeding your baby something that tastes like the personification of sunlight,
that was literally on the vine an hour earlier:
PRICELESS.

Tears of hope

I just watched this video again:



I can understand the cynics who say that this particular piece of art advanced a candidate with shiny, happy, musical, media magic; giving him an unfair youtube-licous advantage for free. It must be especially galling to Obama's opposition that the final result is inspirationally hard to resist and was created by people not officially associated with the campaign, and not asked or paid to produce the piece. I understand and agree that this can be construed as marketing genius. But as I watched (for what is probably the 50th or 60th time) tears streamed down my smiling face.

Because - well, frankly I am a sucker for inspirational marketing- but more than that...
we want change.
We Want Change.
WE WANT CHANGE!

I read once that most children want to vote with whatever candidate or party is in power. When I was younger that translated to most school age children (myself included) wishing we could vote (or get our parents to vote for) for Reagan. The reason offered in the article was that most kids (at least of my nationality, race, and socio-economic status) basically feel safe, that the world and leaders are protecting them and are somehow contributing to the general, comfort-creating conditions. That was definitely true for me as a child. Not that I credited the republican party for how safe I was, but my general sense at election time of, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it. " My parents were kind enough at the time not to spend a lot of energy trying to explain the tax cuts for the rich, the ballooning national deficit, the thousands of people dying by the cruelty of foreign regimes and an un-named AIDS virus, that Ollie North was probably not our greatest American hero, the upsetting dark-side of trickle-down economics, the culture wars set in motion when a "conservative movement" declared war on unwed moms and providers offering the option of abortion, and encouraging God to be positioned as a running mate and political strategist for future generations, etc...

So now I'm older and I've learned to mistrust politicians and practically despise the leaders of conservative politics who seem to want nothing to change (like the 8th grader in me.) But here's this guy, this Obama guy, and here's this entire generation of kids who are pushing for change. And Yeah, I want change. I want a break from all the really rich folks getting elected and taking a break from the big oil BOD jobs to run the country for 8 years. I want to trust that some people in power are NOT going to use that role to pit average citizens against one another a la, "if you're not with us, you're against us" GWB. Mostly I want someone who will give a complex, nuanced answer to a difficult question, and not pretend that sound bites and slogans are policies. It's been a long time since my views were in line with a "majority" of Americans, but this video and the fact that it has received over 8 million hits makes me feel hopeful:

We've been told we can not do this by a chorus of cynics- they will only grow louder and more dissonant. We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope... but in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about HOPE...

i'm lovin' it.

Out-going message

So we are off to Ohio this am for annual summer vacationing in a land-locked state and general frolicking. Yesterday, I got my desk all "cleaned up" and a concise "master" TO DO list outlined on the dry/wipe board for when I return. I set my away message on my email, and changed my alternate voice mail greeting to indicate that I would be unavailable until next Thursday.

Before it lets you change your alternate greeting, our voice mail system replays the last alternate greeting that you left. I have always found this helpful because hearing the old greeting reminds me of the sharp, clear greeting I have determined is the best to leave. At some point, (b/c I'm a perfectionist and it wouldn't be unusual for me to need to record the message 3-6 times to get it right) I saved a "script" on my desktop; so it's like,

"Hi, you have reached (my name), (my position) at (my employer) I will be away from the office, not checking voice mail, until (date of return). If your message is urgent, or you wish to speak to someone more immediately, please press zero and the operator will re-direct your call. If your message can wait until (date of return) please leave your name and number and i will get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you, have a great day."

Yesterday, the message I had to record-over said that I would be out September 27, returning to work September 28th. I took a day off to work from home the day of my 38 week prenatal appointment, never imagining that i would be too busy having a baby to come back into work and attend to my voice mail the next day.

Newsletter alert

Month 8... it seems like it never got posted...
hmm, interesting.

Hot, Hot, Sunday

It is 93 degrees F.
Or at least it was a few minutes ago... we are in the middle of a perfect thunderstorm that is rolling through.

Today's schedule was so awesome...
Wake up and play with baby and E, Mike, and Nina (peeps that are visiting from Madison, WI.)

Eat pancakes and fruit salad as the world starts to heat up outside.

Go to church. It was a hot, sweaty, really sweet service which combined celebrating new members (our family included), the associate pastor's impending retirement, and the graduation of the high school seniors. Jake was dressed in the cutest cargo shorts and Hawaiian shirt, but by the end of the hour-long service, he was barefoot in a onesie.

Then we got to hold a so-new-he-don't-even-have-a-name-newborn, 'cause our friends Katy and Ray had their second baby.

Then I was suppose to play golf, but b/c of the oppressive heat, we re-scheduled and I took a 2 hour nap instead (see the cute updates below.)

Then I woke up and ten minutes later this storm started...
I love thunderstorms. It probably is already 10 degrees cooler since I started writing this post, but since that means it is 83 degrees, who can really tell.

(sigh)
I have a good life.

Update...

... on the sleeping boos:

they have now both turned to the other side and have the exact same leg up in their chests.

the only two differences i can find at this moment are 1. JB's hair doesn't reach quite as far as Tracy's and 2. Tracy's shirt doesn't snap at the bottom.

I cannot help but giggle!

drooling

Noone here is awake for me to make this comment to so...

Both my boos are currently asleep in their respective beds. In exactly the same position. With exactly the same look on their faces. With exactly the same amount of drool beneath their cheeks.

It is, quite possibly, the most fantastic thing I have ever seen.

I've got a girl crush

On Hillary....



The is entire speech is 30 minutes long, but it's kind of worth it.

I think Hills did everything a woman could to
1) Disprove the notion that she is nothing but a divisive figure
2) Show that women are viable candidates for the presidency.
3) UNITE the democratic party... it is nothing but a myth that this 50 state primary race did some kind of harm to Obama or the Democrats.

In fact, more than anyone could have predicted, I think it brought this fight to parts of the country notoriously ignored by the dems.

Toothy McFang

The kid's about to pop a tooth.
We've been observing a strange discoloration in is lower gum for nearly a week, and now we can finally feel the vaguest hint of a nubbin' of fang... I have mixed feelings.

Good for you, tooth-farmer. And yet... our little boy is all growsed up...

He is getting very mobile. Tonight we went in to watch him sleep for a few minutes and he had his legs all up on and through the side rails. And earlier, I sat him about 15 inches from the laundry basket and threw one of his toys in there and he leaned forward, grabbed onto the sides, and pulled himself first into a sitting position, and then onto one knee; before throwing himself face/chest first into the basket at the padded truck.

In other news,

1)I haven't breast fed in a week, and i'm down to pumping every day or so... It's been a concious decision to stop, and I'm only pumping for my own comfort, but I'm still anticipating some kind of emotional breakdown to sneak up on me at some point when I've conviced myself i don't care anymore.

2) I heard today that Kink.os/Fedex has decided to drop the Kink.os name... The is significant in Webbie-family lore as all the west-coast boys seem to have their love lives overtly or covertly linked to the now-former corporation. I know it was all about Junglecopy-love, but I think Kink.os was in the mix somehow.

3) It looks like Obama will be the dem nom for president... mark it down in the history books.